Dispensing container for pipe tobacco



Nov. 18, 1969 D. LYNN 3,478,931

DISPENSING CONTAINER FOR PIPE TOBACCO Filed June 30, 1967 INVENTOR. DAVI 0 L YN N BY wm,mm,

mm M 611 A TTORNE Y8 United States Patent 3,478,931 DISPENSING CONTAINERFOR PIPE TOBACCO David Lynn, 1725 Santa Cruz Ave., Menlo Park, Calif.94025 Filed June 30, 1967, Ser. No. 650,440 Int. Cl. B67d /64; A47f 5/12US. Cl. 222166 7 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A container for pipetobacco adapted to permit the filling of a smoking pipe held in the handentirely by said hand, comprising a bowl, open at the top, having a rearsump and an upwardly and forwardly inclined dispensing spout with sidewalls spaced apart by a distance slightly greater than the width of afinger, to permit tobacco to be pulled by the finger from the sumpthrough the spout into the pipe.

In numerous situations, a smoker cannot conveniently use two hands forfilling a smoking pipe with tobacco. This is the case, for example, withthe operator of a motor vehicle, a pilot, or the like. In suchsituations, it would be convenient to have a tobacco container whichmakes it possible to fill the pipe bowl with only one hand, which alsoholds the pipe, while avoiding the danger of spillage of tobacco. Such acontainer would find utility not only in vehicles but also in othersituations, such as while holding a telephone instrument or the like;and it is not feasible to use both hands for filling a pipe bowl from aconven tional tobacco pouch or the like.

Thus, it is an object of the present invention to provide a dispensingcontainer for tobacco which permits a user to hold a smoking pipe in onehand and manipulate tobacco from the dispenser into the bowl of the pipewith a finger of the same hand with minimum inconvenience to the userand spillage of tobacco.

It is also an object of this invention to provide a tobacco dispenser ofthe character described above which may be mounted at a convenientlocation in a vehicle wherein the operator thereof may only have onehand free for manipulation to fill a smoking pipe with tobacco; and,additionally, a dispenser as described which may be placed on a desk ortable top for use where the user may have one hand occupied withequipment such as a telephone or the like and the other hand only freeto manipulate both pipe and tobacco.

In summary,the dispensing container is in the form of an open-toppedbowl having at its rear a sump for storing several bowl-fulls of tobaccoand a dispensing spout having a bottom which is inclined forwardly andupwardly from the sump to a discharge lip, the spout having sides thatare spaced apart by a distance only slightly greater than the width of afinger. Preferably, the length of the bowl from the discharge lip to therear of the sump is not greater than the reach of an average adultfinger. The entire dispenser may be provided with a pivotal connectionon a base which in turn may be fixed to the dash board of an automobileor aircraft, or may simply rest on a table, whereby the discharge lipcan be depressed, resilient means for returning the bowl to its normalposition, with the discharge lip raised also being provided.

The bowl is optionally provided with a lid which can be hinged at therear and so related to the bowl that the lid can be raised with onefinger.

The invention will be further described with reference to theaccompanying drawing forming a part of this specification and showingtwo preferred embodiments, wherein:

FIGURE 1 is an elevation of one embodiment mounted on a permanent partof a structure which, together with 3,478,931 Patented Nov. 18, 1969portions of a users hand and part of a pipe held therewith, are shown inphantom;

FIGURE 2 is a plan of the container, the lid being omitted;

FIGURE 3 is a section taken on the line 3-3 of FIG- URE 2, the lid beingshown; and

FIGURE 4 is a pictorial view of a second embodiment, mounted on a basewhich rests on a table top.

Referring to FIGURES 1-3, the container comprises a bowl including arear sump 5 and a front dispensing spout 6 which terminates in adischarge lip 7. The spout, which is narrower than the sump, has abottom which is interiorly upwardly concave and sides 8 which are spacedapart by a distance approximately equal to the width of a finger. Thesesides are preferably interiorly inwardly convex as appears in FIGURE 3,whereby the upper marginal portions 9 of the sides diverge, terminatingin an upper rim 10. The bottom of the spout is inclined upwardly in theforward direction from the sump bottom to the lip 7, and the rear ofthis bottom merges smoothly with the bottom of the sump.

The sump 5 is deeper and wider than the dispensing spout and ispreferably interiorly concave in cross section, being large enough tohold several bowl fulls of tobacco. The rear wall 11 of the bowl has apivoted, e.g. a hinged connection 12 to a lid 13 which, in its loweredposition, rests on the rim 10 to prevent spillage of tobacco or entry offoreign matter. The front of the lid is preferably related to the rim 10so that the lid can be raised with one finger. For example, it can havea flange 14 which overhangs the sides of the bowl. The distance from thedischarge lip 7 to the rear wall 11 of the sump is preferably not inexcess of the reach of an adult finger when the hand holding a smokingpipe 15 is placed in front of the how]. This distance is usually lessthan the length of the finger, but may exceed that length slightly aswhen the base of the finger is advanced toward the rear of the lip.

The bowl is supported in this embodiment by a base member or bracket 16fixed to a structure 17, such as the dash of an automobile.Advantageously, this connection is pivotal on an axis which ishorizontal and transverse to the length of the bowl, and includes apivot pin 18. The bowl may, if desired, be urged resiliently in theclock wise direction (as viewed in FIGURE 1) so as to raise thedischarge lip by a spiral spring 19, rotation in that direction beinglimited by the abutment of a lug 20 on the bowl with a stop 21 on thebase 16. When such a pivot at mounting is used it is not essential thatthe distance from the lip 7 to the wall 11 be less than the reach of onefinger, since the entire dispenser may be urged downwardly in acounter-clockwise direction, as viewed in FIGURE 1, to procure tobaccofrom the sump into the spout portion of the dispenser.

In operation, tobacco 22 is contained within the sump 5. To fill thepipe 15 with one hand, it is grasped, e.g. with the thumb and secondfinger (not shown), and the first finger is extended to raise the lidand reach forward along the spout 6 beyond some tobacco. The finger isthen flexed, pulling tobacco through the spout between the walls 8 overthe lip 7 into the pipe bowl.

When the pivotal connection 1821 is provided, the bowl is further tiltedcounter-clockwise to aid in moving tobacco to the front part of thesump. Releasing the bowl causes the spring 19 to return the bowl to theposition shown, with the abutment 20 in engagement with the stop 21.

In the embodiment shown in FIGURE 4, the bowl includes a sump 5a,dispensing spout 6a, discharge lip 7a, having sides 8a and divergingsides 9w having a rim 10a, all as previously described but of slightlydifferent arrangement so as to be adapted for table mounting and may bemodified in shape for such adaptation in that the bottom of thedispensing spout is curved to provide a down-turned lip 7a. The rearwall 11a is curved convexly both in the central vertical longitudinalplane and in horizontal section.

In this embodiment, the bowl is mounted on a base 23 adapted to lie on atable, as mentioned above, having spaced uprights 24. Such uprightssupport trunnions 25 fixed to the bowl. In this embodiment, the bowl maybe fixed to the base, or if desired, the trunnions can have pivotalmotion in the uprights; operationembracing such pivotal motion is aspreviously described above in respect to the embodiment of FIGURES 13,and more particularly the pivotal assembly of components 1821.

I claim:

1. A dispensing tobacco container suitable for filling a smoking pipewith one hand which also holds the pipe, said container comprising anupwardly open bowl providing a rear sump and a forwardly and upwardlyinclined dispensing spout, said spout having a bottom which ends at thefront in a discharge lip and merges at the rear smoothly with the bottomof the sump, said spout bottom being interiorly curved concavely intransverse cross section and having sides that are spaced apart by adistance approximately equal to the width of an adult finger whilepermitting passage of said finger therebetween, whereby tobacco from thesump can be pulled by said finger upwards through said spout and oversaid lip into a pipe held by the hand which contains said finger.

2. A dispensing container according to claim 1 wherein said spout sidesare interiorly convex in transverse cross section above the bottom ofthe spout, whereby the upper marginal portions of the spout diverge.

3. A dispensing container according to claim 1 wherein the distance fromsaid discharge lip to the rear of the sump is approximately equal to thereach of said finger.

4. A dispensing container according to claim 1 wherein said sump iswider than the distance between said spout sides and is interiorlyconcave in transverse cross section.

5. In combination with the dispensing container according to claim 1,support means for the bowl including a base member and a pivotedconnection between said member and the bowl having a pivot axisextending transversely to the length of the container.

6. The combination according to claim 5 which includes, additionally,resilient means urging the bowl to rotate in a direction to raise thedischarge lip, and stop means limiting the rotation of the bowl in thesaid direction.

7. In combination with the dispensing container according to claim 1, alid for said bowl having a pivotal connection rearwardly of saiddischarge lip and adapted to be raised by one finger to permit entry ofthe finger into the bowl.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS D. 110,140 6/1938 Gamble D44-21D. 170,167 8/1953 Rosen D4421 D. 175,426 8/1955 Martha D44\21 D. 180,5867/1957 Dube D4421 507,410 10/1893 Brashear 222-572 X 744,635 11/1903Sinclair et al. 206-.8 1,746,149 2/1930 Elsey 222566 X 2,006,588 7/1935Ehret 20641 2,516,703 7/ 1950 Kent. 2,652,012 9/1953 Ischinger 222-572 X2,812,784 11/1957 Palmer 141391 X 3,063,110 11/1962 West 2221663,147,891 9/1964 Fielitz 222166 1,083,104 12/1913 Johnson 3123l2,084,908 6/1937 Harris et al 31231.3 X

SAMUEL F. COLEMAN, Primary Examiner

